The Cleveland Cavaliers have quietly built an elite championship profile with a top-five offense and a top-five defense, and they were too good for fellow Eastern Conference playoff contenders the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.
Against the Hawks, the Cavaliers rode the offensive brilliance of their two All-Star guards. Darius Garland, who the team drafted fifth overall back in 2019, had an efficient 26 points on nine-of-14 shooting, while their offseason trade acquisition Donovan Mitchell top-scored with 29 points on 11-of-22 shooting.
While having two terrific scorers in the backcourt is one thing, having two elite playmakers unlocks a whole new level of play.
Both Garland and Mitchell finished with nine assists each, with Mitchell averaging a career-high 5.8 assists since arriving from the Utah Jazz, while Garland's 7.7 assists per contest ties him for the sixth-most in the league.
When factoring in that they both play close to 40 minutes a night, coach J.B. Bickerstaff can stagger his rotation in a way where one of them is always on the floor, giving them 48 minutes of structured, competent offense, regardless of who the four surrounding players are.
While their dynamic duo are the heartbeat of their offensive success – producing the fifth-best offensive rating in the league at 114.8 points per 100 possessions – they have an equally impactful pairing in the frontcourt with seven-footers Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.
Allen, along with Garland, was honoured last season as a first-time All-Star, while Mobley came into the league as one of the greatest defensive prospects in the history of college basketball.
It is the brilliance of that combination that has allowed the Cavaliers to concede the third-fewest points per 100 possessions (108.2) despite starting two small guards, making them the only team in the top-five of both offensive and defensive efficiency.
After Monday's win against the Hawks, Garland spoke about how their defense was able to deliver a 12-point win despite committing 20 turnovers as a team.
"We're just trying to cut the turnovers down, really – even though we had a lot tonight, we made it up on defense," he said.
"That's how we got easy buckets and got out in transition – got us a couple lay-ups, a couple lobs, and that's really what got us going.
"Our team is just unselfish – everybody sees it. We all love each other, we just want to win, we're just competitors."
Coach Bickerstaff expanded on what makes their defense so good during his postgame press conference, pointing to it as a driving force of their offense, as well.
"We've shown what we're capable of defensively," he said. "We know when we're at our best we can create stops, we can force turnovers, we can create easy opportunities for ourselves.
"In that fourth quarter, holding them to 17 points until that last three – that's how you win basketball games against good teams. You lock down defensively, and that helped our offense.
"When you're getting stops, you're playing in the flow and not against a set defense as much. All of our stuff works together – our offense helps our defense, and our defense helps our offense
"We need to be able to slow the game down and control the game. If you have to go against our half-court defense, you're going to be in for a tough time."
He went on to discuss how special the Allen and Mobley connection is, and why it is such a stark difference when Allen is out injured. The Cavaliers have a woeful defensive rating of 126.6 in the two games Allen has missed this season, and what would be a league-leading figure of 104.0 in the 15 games he has played.
"Jarrett is a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber player," he said. "When you take that away, it's obviously going to have an impact.
"But when he's on the floor, we're a different team, and when our two big guys are on the floor together, and they're working as a pair, they're hard to score on.
"Evan [Mobley] is an All-Defensive player himself, we're extremely fortunate to have two guys who can defend the way they can defend. When they're working together, you're hard-pressed to find easy looks out there."
With the win, the Cavaliers are now 7-1 at home and 11-6 overall, occupying the third seed in the Eastern Conference – a position they will be aiming to maintain all season.
Rublev battles past Daniel to reach French Open second round
Andrey Rublev booked his place in the French Open second round after battling past Taro Daniel in four sets at Roland Garros.
The sixth seed, who is a two-time quarter-finalist at the season's second major, prevailed 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 7-5 in just over three hours on Court Simonne-Mathieu.
Rublev triumphed on clay at the Madrid Open earlier this month and dominated the opening set, though his Japanse opponent pegged him back in a second-set tie-break.
However, the 26-year-old was not to be denied, taking the next two sets to book a showdown with either Pedro Martinez or Thiago Agustin Tirante in the second round.
Data debrief
It is now 10 years since Rublev was crowned the boys' singles champion at Roland Garros, while he reached the first of his two men's quarter-finals in 2020.
One of the most consistent players in recent years, he has now won 223 ATP matches since the start of the 2020 season, with only Daniil Medvedev (225) registering more during that time.
Osaka sets up potential French Open meeting with Swiatek after downing Bronzetti
Naomi Osaka returned to the French Open with a bang after overcoming Lucia Bronzetti to set up a potential meeting with Iga Swiatek.
Former world number one Osaka made her Paris comeback after a 15-month maternity break, battling to a 6-1 4-6 7-5 first-round victory over Bronzetti on Sunday.
Now ranked 134th in the women's standings after her long lay-off, the four-time major winner had little trouble in finding her feet and did not face a break point during a dominant first set.
World number 48 Bronzetti responded by holding three consecutive serving games in the second set on Court Philippe-Chatrier, staving off two break points to clinch a 4-3 lead.
Osaka managed back-to-back breaks to seize a 4-0 advantage after the Italian forced a deciding set, though was forced to hold off a late comeback to triumph in the French capital.
Returning to Roland-Garros for the first time in two years, Osaka could now meet Swiatek in the second round if the defending champion overcomes Leolia Jeanjean on Monday.
Data Debrief: Osaka hot on Swiatek's tail
Among active players, Osaka (75.3%, 58-19) now only trails her potential next opponent, Swiatek (81.4%, 70-16), for winning percentage in women’s singles matches at major events.
Now 5-3 on clay at WTA events in 2024, Osaka has claimed five seasonal match wins on clay for the first time since 2019, when she held the WTA's number-one ranking.
Sinner and Swiatek favourites for French Open success
Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek are the favourites in their respective draws to triumph at the French Open.
That is according to Stats Perform's Win Probability Model, which saw Swiatek regain her Roland-Garros crown in 20 per cent of simulations, ahead of nearest challenger Elena Rybakina (nine per cent).
The Pole is aiming to become the third player in the Open Era to win the women's singles title at Roland-Garros for three consecutive years, after Monica Seles (1990-92) and Justine Henin (2005-07).
Swiatek claimed a third women’s singles title at Roland-Garros from five appearances in the main draw at the event. In the Open Era, only Margaret Court (three out of four, 75 per cent) holds a better title win rate from main draws entered at the tournament.
In the men's competition, Sinner is the narrow favourite in Stats Perform's predictions, with his 13 per cent chance just clear of Novak Djokovic's 10.
Sinner has the highest winning percentage of any player so far in 2024 (93.3 per cent, 28-2), though third-favourite Carlos Alcaraz still has a six per cent likelihood of winning in Paris.
World number three Alcaraz has yet to reach a French Open final, but is the youngest player in the Open Era to reach the round of 16 at seven consecutive majors.
Meanwhile, Djokovic is out to overtake Court's record of 24 majors and become the outright leader for grand slam titles across men's and women's singles events.
Aged 36 years and 20 days, Djokovic became the oldest winner of the men's singles at Roland-Garros in the Open Era when he triumphed last year.
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